Egypt braces for protests, prosecutor general quits

Egypt braced for opposition-backed protests against alleged vote rigging in the first stage of a referendum on an Islamist constitution, as the country’s embattled prosecutor general quit, just weeks after being appointed by President Mohamed Morsi.

Talaat Ibrahim Abdallah submitted his resignation yesterday to the head of the Supreme Judicial Council after growing demands from hundreds of public prosecutors asking him to quit.

The Council will examine Mr Abdallah’s resignation next Sunday, a day after a final round of voting in the referendum on Egypt’s draft constitution. The first round of voting on the Islamist draft constitution took place on Saturday.

The prosecutor general was appointed by the president by virtue of a controversial constitutional decree that was issued on November 22. Though the declaration was later cancelled the prosecutor general remained in his post. He is known to be closely linked with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Hundreds of judges and prosecutors had gathered at the prosecutor general’s office yesterday after marching from the Judges’ Club building, in protest of Mr Morsi’s decision to replace Mubarak-era prosecutor-general Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud with Abdullah.